I wholeheartedly agree with Martin Kettle and his call for a royal commission into the police (Comment, 10 April), the last one was in 1961 chaired by Henry Willink. Since then, we have had two royal commissions into the criminal justice system, Phillips in 1978, in direct response to the Fisher inquiry regarding the investigation into the Maxwell Confait murder case, as well as the concerns around the enforcement of the so-called sus laws generally. And Runciman in 1990, in response to the Irish miscarriages of justice.

Furthermore, since 2001 in particular, we have embarked on a process of police reform, containing so many piecemeal elements, reports, green and white papers, that it has left many frontline operational officers confused as to what their core role is, or is about to become. Senior managers appear to be struggling to implement some of the changes.

In the last few years we have seen major reforms that are having a direct influence on policing; many occupying grey areas. For example, Crime and Disorder Partnerships, the Serious and Organised Crime Agency, police community support officers, their function and the confusion surrounding their powers; and the ill-fated and equally ill-thought out force mergers programme, proposed following an HMIC Report in 2005, but thankfully shelved with the removal of Charles Clarke from the Home Office.

However, perhaps the most pressing need is to clarify the role of police authorities, last holistically examined by Willink in 1961. For example, the chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority, a fledgling body when compared to other police authorities, appears to have acted as a "quasi-commissioner" on two occasions within the last six months (Ian Blair and Bob Quick), and this alone justifies urgent and emphatic clarification, which only a royal commission can deliver.Peter Williams Senior lecturer in policing, University of Teesside

Martin Kettle is absolutely right to call for a royal commission. To the reasons he gives, a number of others might be added. The most important concerns our changed policing landscape. This is now occupied by a host of private and other agencies all of whom are substantially less accountable than our public constabularies. Any commission should consider them all. Professor Tim NewburnLondon School of Economics

As a student in the late 1970s, I had a Steve Bell poster on my wall which read "Keep crime off the streets, lock up the police". As relevant today as it was then. Perhaps you could republish it as a wallchart.David Dawson-PickPreswood, Buckinghamshire